This is your captain speaking.

So it appears as though there was a bit of a holdup in the Surusu background processing queue. That means, for example, that MCDs that were supposed to be being made haven’t been made yet.

BUT FEAR NOT!

They’re safely in the queue and the queue is back up and running again. You should see all the cards you had made/requested out in your decks within the next 72 hours or so. You’ll also get confirmation messages in your registered email box. So. Yeah. All is well (if a little late ) .

Thank you for choosing Surusu. Please continue to enjoy your SRS life.

SPARKING!!

• Default = Normal = Manual mode: Creates the cloze deletions you explicitly specify (separated by whitespace) in the clozetexts box.
• Example: Clozetexts box input ¹ “and you are not it” results in up to 5 cards, of clozetexts “and”, “you”, “are”, “not” and “it” respectively.
• Eurogram auto mode AKA European grammar mode: Same as manual mode but with some optimizations for definite/indefinite articles and verb endings as are commonly found in European languages. Useful when targeting European grammar and syntax.
• Fullsubset auto mode: Given multiple, whitespace-separated clozetexts, selects only a subset — the longest N%, where N≒25 — of the clozetexts and makes cloze deletions out of them. Useful for when you want to make cloze deletions out of, say, a full article ², but don’t have the time or desire to be selective.
• 漢 auto mode AKA singleton mode: Automatically creates clozetexts and cloze deletions that are exactly 1 character in length. While you do need to supply base clozetext (i.e. input) in the clozetexts box, there is no need for you to manually separate it with whitespace. Great for Chinese MCDs and Japanese syntax MCDs.
• Example: Clozetexts box input “邯鄲の歩”  results in up to 4 cards, of clozetexts “邯”, “鄲”, “の”, and “歩” respectively.
• ふくわなが（複和長）auto mode AKA scramble mode: Automatically creates clozetexts and cloze deletions that are 3~5-character-long permutations of the base clozetext ³ you supply. Again, while you do need to supply base clozetext  in the clozetexts box, there is no need for you to manually separate it with whitespace. Great for Japanese syntax and usage MCDs.
• Example: Clozetexts box input “お前の母ちゃん何人だ” results in cards including (but not limited to): “お前の”, “ちゃん”, “何人だ”, etc.
• ミックス auto mode AKA mixed mode: a mixture between singleton mode and scramble mode. Automatically creates clozetexts and cloze deletions that are 1~5-character-long permutations of the base clozetext.
• Example: Clozetexts box input “お前の母ちゃん何人だ” results in cards including (but not limited to): “の”, “ちゃん”, “何人だ”, etc.

噓には３つの種類がある。噓、真っ赤な噓、そして統計だ。
There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics.

• Today
• Repcount: Number of reps you have done today
• Recall: Percentage of reps where you got a score of 3 or more
• Deletecount: Number of cards deleted today
• Addcount: Number of cards added today
• Duecount: (Approximate) number of cards due today
• Overall:
• Cardcount: Total number of cards in deck
• Repcount: All-time number of reps done across all cards in deck
• Interval: Length of time (=number of days) between the previous rep and the next scheduled rep for a given card, accumulated across the entire deck and then averaged out.
• Coverage: The percentage of cards in the deck that have been touched (had reps done on them) at least once
• Virgin cards: cards on which you have done no reps. These cards do not (cannot) contribute to coverage.
• Retention: Percentage of reps where you got a score of 3 or more (with the added assumption that virgin cards count as perfect retention, since, in theory (and usually in practice, too), you know the contents of a card when you create/enter it).
• (Not always visible) Trash bad cards: Selects a stratified sample of relatively mature non-virgin cards with exceedingly poor performance statistics (high lapsecounts and lapserates) and deletes them. Such cards are also known as “leeches”.
• (Not always visible) Cull virgin cards: Selects a stratified sample of the deck (i.e. a random sample of virgin cards) to send to the trashcan.
• It is a decimator function, reducing a maximum of 10% of the deck’s overall cardcount while only targeting virgins.
• Culling is useful for a deck that has become unmanageably overloaded with new cards (of dubious-to-ambivalent value) by auto-insertion/auto-addition technological conveniences such as deck import and multiple cloze deletion card creation. As the saying goes, “if in doubt, throw it out”.
• Note: unless otherwise stated, non-active (trashed or permanently deleted) cards are excluded from all stats

So, the Surusu URL Shuffler now has a separate “deck”-like structure to/from which you can add and retrieve links that are of this kind, i.e. NSFW.

Scroll down to the near the of the URL shuffler page for the relevant bookmarklets. You can’t miss them.

Ironically enough, most people grade themselves too harshly. So:

1. Don’t be too harsh
2. Don’t grade yourself harshly on a card because you’ve had trouble with it in the past. Grade cards on a per rep basis: if you did well on the card this time around, then give yourself a high score. Surusu knows the card’s history and won’t boot it into obilivion just because you did well on it once or twice despite a troubled history .

Link: 素+

Source code: javascript:var d=document;var tx=encodeURIComponent(d.selection?d.selection.createRange().text:d.getSelection());var url=encodeURIComponent(d.location.href);var title=encodeURIComponent(d.title);var subw=window.open('http://www.surusu.com/addqaui.php?front='+escape(tx)+'&back='+title+'&source='+url).document;

Source:

javascript:(function(){var w=window,d=w.document,s='';;if(d.selection){s=d.selection.createRange().text}else if(d.getSelection){s=d.getSelection()}else if(w.getSelection){s=window.getSelection()}window.open('http://www.thefreedictionary.com/'+encodeURIComponent(s),'_blank')})()


It’s a better alternative to bookmarks. Instead of storing those cool L2 sites you come across (e.g. via recommendations on the AJATT Twitter feed) in your bookmarks folder, where they will simply be forgotten, store them in the URL shuffler

The URL shuffler will pick a random page for you each time you click the “shuffle!”/”shuff!” link. Make the “shuffle!” link your homepage and you can flip through the web like flipping through TV channels. Shuffling gives a perfect balance of turnover (mixing) and conversion (actual visitation).

Note: like SRS cards, the websites are all added by you. This way you get a customized mix of just the websites you love.

Why include it in an SRS?

Because contact is the basis of content. There’ll be no fun SRS content without fun immersion. Instead of disciplining yourself to build the habit of visiting L2 websites, let URL shuffler handle it for you. Plus, you’re not bound to your main computer. Whether at home, school, wage slavery place, a friend’s house or on your iPad, you can enjoy the same rich variety of cool L2 web content.

How Do I Use It?

Use the supplied links and bookmarklets to add, remove and visit websites.

Google Japan Bookmarklet
Source code:

javascript:(function(){var w=window,d=w.document,s="";;if(d.selection){s=d.selection.createRange().text}else if (d.getSelection){s=d.getSelection()}else if(w.getSelection){s=window.getSelection()}window.open ("http://www.google.co.jp/search?hl=ja&source=hp&q="+encodeURIComponent(s) +"&aq=f&aqi=g10&aql=&oq=&gs_rfai=","_blank")})()


Google Hong Kong Bookmarklet
Source code

javascript:(function(){var w=window,d=w.document,s="";;if(d.selection){s=d.selection.createRange().text}else if (d.getSelection){s=d.getSelection()}else if(w.getSelection){s=window.getSelection()}window.open ("http://www.google.com.hk/search?q="+encodeURIComponent(s) +"&hl=zh-TW&prmd=i&source=lnt&tbs=lr:lang_1zh-TW&lr=lang_zh-TW&sa=X&ei=IRRQTIuHOMHXcZyklbEB&ved=0CAgQpwU","_blank")})()

Google Reader Bookmarklet (Courtesy of Google Mania)
Source code:

javascript:(function(){for(i=0;i<document.getElementsByTagName('link').length;i++){if(document.getElementsByTagName('link').item(i).getAttribute('rel').toLowerCase()=='alternate' && (document.getElementsByTagName('link').item(i).getAttribute('type').toLowerCase()=='application/rss+xml' || document.getElementsByTagName('link').item(i).getAttribute('type').toLowerCase()=='text/xml')) { var furl; var fhref=document.getElementsByTagName('link').item(i).getAttribute('href'); if(fhref.indexOf('/')===0) { furl='http://fusion.google.com/add?1&feedurl=' + document.location.href.split('/')[0] + '/' + document.location.href.split('/')[1] + '/' + document.location.href.split('/')[2] + fhref; } else if(fhref.indexOf('http://')===0) {furl='http://fusion.google.com/add?2&feedurl='+fhref; } else { var fhref2=document.location.href.split('/'); fhref2.pop(); furl='http://fusion.google.com/add?3&feedurl='+fhref2.join('/')+'/'+fhref; } document.location.href=furl;} }})();

EOF

• Wiktionary Bookmarklet

Source code:

javascript:(function(){var w=window,d=w.document,s="";;if(d.selection){s=d.selection.createRange().text}else if(d.getSelection){s=d.getSelection()}else if(w.getSelection){s=window.getSelection()}window.open("http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/"+encodeURIComponent(s),"_blank")})()


• Japanese Wiktionary Bookmarklet

Source code:

javascript:(function(){var w=window,d=w.document,s="";;if(d.selection){s=d.selection.createRange().text}else if(d.getSelection){s=d.getSelection()}else if(w.getSelection){s=window.getSelection()}window.open("http://ja.wiktionary.org/wiki/"+encodeURIComponent(s),"_blank")})()


EOF

• Goo dictionary bookmarklet Version A

Source code, just in case:

javascript:(function(){var w=window,d=w.document,s="";;if(d.selection){s=d.selection.createRange().text}else if(d.getSelection){s=d.getSelection()}else if(w.getSelection){s=window.getSelection()}window.open("http://dictionary.goo.ne.jp/srch/all/"+encodeURIComponent(s)+"/m0u/","_blank")})()

• Goo dictionary bookmarklet Version B

javascript:var%20d=document;var%20tx=encodeURIComponent(d.selection?d.selection.createRange().text:d.getSelection());var%20subw=window.open('http://dictionary.goo.ne.jp/srch/all/'+tx+'/m0u/','_blank').document;

EOF

Friends, AJATTeers, countrymen. Lend me your ears. I come to give a bookmarklet, not an update. It’s a little bookmarklet that will make life a little easier for you when it comes to adding/mining stuff from webpages. It puts the text you highlight directly onto the “front” of your card, and pertinent information on the “back”. Enjoy.

Here it is: The Surusu Add Card Bookmarklet aka SRS+ aka ス＋. Drag one of those links to your toolbar and enjoy faster adding (to add to Surusu, you just highlight the relevant text in your browser, then click on the bookmarklet, which takes you to the Surusu add screen with all the information filled in for you — no need to copy and paste by hand ). Use the time saved to watch more cartoons .

Oh, and here’s the actual code in case you’re on a weirdish platform like the iPad and you need to copy and paste directly:

javascript:var d=document;var tx=encodeURIComponent(d.selection?d.selection.createRange().text:d.getSelection());var url=encodeURIComponent(d.location.href);var title=encodeURIComponent(d.title);var subw=window.open('http://www.surusu.com/addqaui.php?front='+escape(tx)+'&back='+title+'&source='+url).document;

Finally, big ups to this Japanese site for its help. And this English one, and finally to this forum for debugging assistance. EOF

Hmmm…and on that note.

Surusu now supports import of decks from Anki. Current limitations:

• Only Anki “cards“ (not “facts”) exported in the form of tab-separated text file, are supported.
• As you might expect, repetition history is not imported. However, Surusu does have facilities such as the warp button, whereby you can set very long intervals in a single click, allowing you to basically say: “I know this card very well, don’t show it to me for a long while”. This keeps well-memorized cards out of your hair so that you can spend more of your time on the cards you know less well.

In other news:

• Surusu now also supports rudimentary “undo” of repetition scores. If you accidentally give the card the wrong score, simply click on the link to its data page (shown at the top of the current page together with interval information), and “reset” it.
• Surusu decks can now be deleted and merged as well as renamed. However, delete and merge are irreversible, one-time operations, so use them with care. At present, there is no deck trashcan, i.e. no undo for deck mergers and deletions.

Um…There’s a new feature up, accessible when you view the back (“answer”) side of your cards and are scoring your performance. It’s a button labeled “|DAILY|”.

Basically, what this button does is bypass normal interval processing, forcing your card to appear the next “day”, regardless of its previous performance (note: this is subject to some minor variation due to Surusu’s priority scheduling). This daily repetition function is useful if, say, you’re wanting to really brainwash yourself with some idea, and you’d like to exposed to it on a daily basis.

That’s it .

So, by popular demand, I have added a new feauture dubbed “autofeed cards”. Basically it causes Surusu to keep “feeding” you cards without your constant intervention (no being taken back to the home screen every N cards). Rather like a, uh, an automatic firearm. There’s a friendly image for you .

And that’s it for now! Thanks for using Surusu!

• Combine/import your other accounts as decks, into a single account
• Create decks
• Move cards between decks
• View deck-specific stats
• Do deck-specific reps
• Cure cancer, AIDS and athlete’s foot
  
• Be happy

Note that in order to fully enable decks in your account, you may need to log out and then log in again. The ability to rename decks shall be added in a future update . For now, enjoy! All you beautiful Surusuers, keep your comments and suggestions coming using the Surusu hotline.

Other new, hip major features:

• PC/cellphone browser detection (cleaner redirects for PCs, linked redirects for cellphones)
• Background processing (asynchronous data-handling, allowing Surusu to give you a fast interface even as the amount of data being worked with increases).
• An improved repetition scheduling algorithm with more randomization and wider mix selection. Basically, your cards are shuffled more and they’re chosen in a way that further improves performance in terms of coverage breadth/depth.
• Decimation. “Trash bad cards” moves egregiously poor-performing cards to the trashcan, up to a maximum of 1% of a given deck’s cardcount.

As you may be aware, Surusu has up until now had periodic 15~20-minute service interruptions while backups are taken.

Wanting to eliminate the need to interrupt service in order to take a backup, today I started working with a “live backup” solution.

Unfortunately and quite ironically, this “live backup” solution led to the loss of the very user data — yours and mine — that it was intended to protect.

Fortunately, I had taken a full, “normal” backup just one week ago.
It has become necessary to restore this week-old backup.
As a result, one week’s worth of entered cards [anything entered between September 12 and September 20 (Japan time)] have been lost, and may not be recoverable. Repetition data has also been reset to September 12 status, although this does not represent a significant problem since it will just mean extra review.

Your time and data are valuable.
I apologize deeply for the inconvenience.
I shall continue to work to find stable, sustainable ways to ensure the integrity of the system.
For now, that may mean the occasional 15~20 minute service interruption while a very pedestrian backup is taken.

The Good News

The Surusu interface has been updated extensively for even more pleasant use. There have also been dozens of back-end fixes. Notably, the sporadic problem with “Extra Reps” processing not going through, has been repaired.

Thank you again for using Surusu.

Best regards,

Khatzumoto

[P.S.]: Will This Sort of Thing Happen Again?

No.

This was the first Surusu data loss incident of any kind in all its nearly 4 years of operation. And the fault was ultimately human error — mine. At the time, I was in a rush to get cool new stuff working “invisibly”, with minimum inconvenience to everyone else.

The webhost/server is one of the best out there…the database system is stable…the programmer was in too much of a hurry . A deliberate pace and simple safety checks, as has been the usual policy, can and will prevent all loss of this kind.

The immediate short-term direction is more frequent backups. Beyond that, adding functionality so we can all download and back-up our data locally is a high priority, something I want to add as soon as possible.

So, both as a user and a programmer…I’ll do my very best and more. Your concern is completely warranted, and I feel your pain — my data, all 25000 odd cards and  nearly 100000 reps — are in there, too .

Deepest apologies again for the inconvenience .